>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations.

what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> hurricane sandy is strengthening as it approaches the east coast of the united states. these are live pictures from maryland as the national hurricane center warned of a life-threatening storm surges and hurricane winds. a magazine editors charged with breach of privacy in greece. and election results in the ukraine suggest they might not have an overall majority. welcome to bbc world news. china appears for a change of leadership. how will it affect ordinary people? we will hear from villagers living in the shadows of the great wall.

and there's a new environment. the east coast of the united states is waking up to what could soon be a super storm. 140 kilometers per hour winds battering large areas as the hurricane grows in strength. sandy is expected to bring with it a life-threatening storm surge. these are live pictures from new york. the city waking up in darkness at the moment. in maryland, residents are bracing for the category one hurricane. this is live from maryland. 50 million people are affected on the east coast. schools and transport has been closed down. mandatory evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people caught in low-lying areas of new york city. the stock market is closed in

new york. national air travel affected. many airlines affected and have had to cancel flights in and out. another piece of breaking news, 17 people have abandoned ship while stranded at sea off north carolina because of the hurricane, according to the u.s. coast guard of. teen-person crew took light jacket and went into the lifeboats -- a ten-person crew. now more from our correspondents. >> hurricane sandy churning waters off the new jersey shore. waves as high as 11 feet predicted at the height of the storm. people are getting out. already battling the bins that are expected to get its ferocious -- get ferocious.

transatlantic flights have been cancelled. in atlantic city, people are boarding buses for shelters where they could stay until midweek. the casinos have been boarded up. hurricane sandy is roaring up the eastern coast of united states. it's expected to turn sharply in london sometime today, crashing into a cold front from the west and the north, which will turn it into a monster storm. >> my main message to everybody involved is that we have to take this seriously. the federal government is working with state and local governments. it will be very important that populations in all the affected states take this seriously. listen to your state and local elected officials. >> president obama has to oversee the hurricane response in the midst of an election.

how he handled the crisis could impact the results. the storm is disrupting campaign stops and early voting schedules. it is clearing supermarket shelves in new york, one of the major cities in its past president. and scrambled to stock up on batteries, a tortoise, and canned fruits -- torches. the new york stock exchange will close its trading floor. the prospect of weather systems colliding makes people apprehensive with a fear that they are headed for a perfect storm. bbc news, new york. >> let's go live to staten island in new york. a resident is joining us. what is it like and how worried are you? >> i am really not worried, because we have taken all the precautions we can, short of evacuating. we have enough food to last a

couple days. are you on the ground floor? what have you done to protect your property? >> we don't really have anything outside the house. but we have a seat for property -- a sea-floor property. >> president obama has said everyone should take this very seriously. >> i am from the american gulf coast where we get a lot of hurricanes. so everything is moving away from the windows. and a lot of stuff is in my closet right now. >> what is the city like, generally? is everyone as calm as you?

>> the whole city, the public transportation is closed and a lot of us were concerned about making it home before the public transportation closed. there's a concern there would be flooding in the subway tunnels, because that could bring infrastructure to a stop for several days. >> thanks for joining us. i hope that you are not badly affected. let's go to new jersey. frank is a meteorologist. what is your expectation of what's coming in the next few hours? >> we are looking at a very serious storm. the residents of new jersey are bracing for what could end up being a very historic storm in this state. it may change the landscape of the jersey shore a bit. we have never seen a storm of this intensity headed towards

the coast. our experience level with a storm this size is low. i have been forecasting 50 years and have never seen a storm this big. rather i have been fascinated by the weather for 50 years. >> what are you advising? >> if you are asked to evacuate, you should evacuate. a lot of residents are used to storms affecting new jersey and they say to themselves we have made it through other storms. this is a different storm. this will bring record tides to most of the jersey shore from cape may to sandy hook. as much as two feet or 3 feet above any previous record. places that have never flooded before will be flooded during the storm. >> and people protect their property these levels of

water? it's there are precautions that can be made, but it is too late for that now. tying things down, putting it away so that they don't dly in the high winds and become projectiles -- fly in the high wind to cause damage or break windows. so there are a lot of precautions that can be made. if you are in one of those areas, get out of the way of the storm and forget about those precautions. >> thank you, frank, from new jersey. breaking news. president barack obama has canceled a political campaign appearance in orlando and florida because of the hurricane. that was just announced. due to deteriorating weather conditions in the washington area. the president will not attend the event in orlando. he's returning to white house to

monitor preparations for hurricane sandy. if you happen to be in one of the affected areas along the path of hurricane sandy or view of already been affected, please upload your experiences in photos and videos by visiting bbc.com. we are keen to hear from you over the next few hours. if you need any more formation, please go to the web site. other news,a greek magazine editors in court today on charges of beating privacy after he published a list of 2000 wealthy greeks who held bank accounts in switzerland. there's a suspicion some of them may have been using swiss bank accounts to avoid taxes, but the greek government never investigated those people on the list. the list was passed to christine

lagarde. it is an intriguing story. >> he was due to appear in court about an hour ago, but the greek legal system being as it is, there are delays 7. other cases to be heard first. so we have no indication yet as to when his trial will begin. he is charged with breach of privacy. he published this list of greeks holding bank accounts overseas at hsbc bank in geneva, many of them suspected of tax evasion through those accounts. the real anger is not towards him but towards, the towards who seems to have sat on this list for the lasted until years and not acted upon it. he says that the alleged tax evaders and ministers who

received the list from christine lagarde in 2010 and of not followed up on it, he says they should be the ones focused on. the greek government simply is not serious about tackling tax evasion. >> have the ministers involved given any explanation for not following up on the list? >> two of finance ministers have spoken publicly about this. the finance minister in 2010 says he did pass it on to the tax officials but that when he left the post it seems to have been lost, the cd containing the list. his successor says that he deemed it inappropriate to follow up, partly because it was detained unlawfully a leak by a bank employee in geneva. that is not washed with public with public opinion here.

greeks don't like their politicians. there's a lot of anger against the political class for "lining while ordinary greeks are suffering. while ordinary greeks are struggling with austerity measures, others are stashing their money abroad in swiss bank accounts and possibly avoiding taxes. >> sounds like the court case will be interesting. thanks very much. the ukraine's ruling party has claimed victory in parliamentary elections. the party of regents has a significant lead and looks set to retain its majority in parliament, but to do complicated electoral system, the final results are still some way off. can you explain the results we have gotten and what we are waiting for? >> about half of the votes have been counted.

but the ukrainian parliament is divided in half. half of the seats are elected directly through direct mandate and the other half through . party lists through. party seems tos have gotten it so far around 35%. their main allies, the communists, have gotten 15%. so that is 50% and of the proportional seats. a party of regents says they picked up as many as 2/3 up a direct mandate seat, which would give them a huge majority, a data has not yet been confirmed. the main opposition party, which is led in part by the former prime minister, who is in prison, they picked up around 22%. they will have partners possibly in parliament of the punch

party and the far right at national or freedom party. >> thanks very much. aaron is here. what do you read? >> i read on paper, paper books, hardcover. the publishing industry has seen a huge shift in the way we read books. most of the time now it is electronic books on the amazon's kindle borat ipad. -- or ipad. we got a big announcement. we have seen a deal among the world's big six publishers. i'm talking about pierson in the u.k., the owner of penguin books as well as germany's random house, which is controlled by the german media

group. so random house and putting one together -- so random house and penguin books will combine and it we could see revenue at over $3 billion. >> and car sales? >> honda sales in china in september were down 14%. that is a staggering dropped. -- drop. it has had to cut its profit forecast for the year as a result. we expect toyota and nissan to cut their forecasts as well. we will talk more in a half hour. >> you are watching bbc world news. still ahead -- >> ♪

>> and how a new washing powder can clean up the environment. just eight days until the u.s. presidential election, but hurricane sandy is disrupting the campaign. let's find out more there. >> well out of the way of the storm, mitt romney has been revving up support among party faithful. >> this is so heartening, so encouraging. the kind of energy we feel here, we have been feeling all across ohio. >> he has tried to turn the weather to his advantage, focusing on of the most critical battlegrounds, the midwestern state of ohio. incredibly, having come from behind, mitt romney is now neck- and-neck with barack obama in

many of the crucial swing states. these romney supporters, with little more than a week ago, are beginning to claim victory. in contrast, mr. obama in washington yesterday was burdened with double trouble, faced with a desperately tight election race, but now some campaign plans disrupted by the need to leave the nature -- -- lead the nation through the weather emergency. at least it is a chance to look and sound presidential. with just a week ago and the race in a dead heat, no campaign stunt is too much trouble, even for the wives of the candidates. michelle obama on a tv comedy show literally getting the votes out early, to give the democrats the advantage. and ann romney appealing to the undecided women voters that republicans want to win over. no one really knows what tactics

will make a difference. indeed ate swing states that will decide this election, that is. -- in the 8 swing states that will decide the election. >> this is bbc world news. hurricane sandy is strengthening as it approaches the east coast of the united states. these are live pictures in new jersey. the u.s. national hurricane center says it is expecting a life-threatening storm surges, hurricane coastal winds, heavy snow in the mountains. a magazine editor who published details of tax avoidance by some of the wealthiest greeks is in court charged with breaching privacy. next week, a's ruling communist party begins its once in a decade leadership change -- china's ruling communist party. we are taking a trip across

china with our correspondent starting at the great wall. >> we will be reporting from a different location in china every day. we will kick off this week at the iconic great wall of china, as you can see behind me. this watch tower was built 500 years ago. in the distance, you can see the great wall snaking up and down the hill. it really is stunning. i have been speaking to some villagers close to the great wall to get a sense from them about what they want from china'snew leaders who will start assuming power in the coming weeks. i asked them how life has changed in the last decade and what they would like their new leader to do for them in the next 10 years? for centuries, this village has lain in the shadow of the great wall. this farmer and his wife have

known hard times, but they say the village has been transformed in the last decade. >> i feel like i am living in haven't. in the past, there was never enough food and we always went hungry. but now the government supports me. -- i feel like i'm living in heaven. although i am not well, i have more than enough. >> this farmer tells me many young people have higher-paying jobs outside the village and not on the farms. some of them have become successful entrepreneurs. this person makes his money selling sausages and has spent $60,000 on building a new route business. he says it's vital that the village continue to develop. >> everyone here wants to earn more money and i hope the village becomes richer. it's important we keep developing so we are not laughed at by outsiders.

>> life is not always easy here, but these villagers have become used in desperate times and the challenge for the new chinese leaders will be meeting the rising expectations. as things stand, the chinese population, half of its lives in the villages and the other half lives in the city's and downs. we have seen in recent years and when we continue to see is a mass migration. the largest waves of migration in human history from the countryside into the chinese cities. over the next 20 years there are estimates that more than 350 million people will move into chinese cities. that gives you some idea of the scale and scope of the challenges that will face china posing new leaders. >> in syria, state tv as reported a car bomb that exploded in the capital

damascus, killed 10 people including women and children. this comes as the u.s.-brokered cease-fire failed to hold over the religious festival. jim, what details do you have? >> the bomb went off near a bakery in a suburb on the southeast side of damascus. the state news agency says 15 people were killed or wounded. state tv said 10 people were killed and they're blaming it on terrorists, meaning insurgents or rebels. the last car bomb in damascus during this four-a hot day was blamed on the rebels, but the main islamic group which has been held responsible for some of these bombs and has claimed responsibility has said it did not carry this out. the rebels have been blaming the government for carrying out these bombings, to dismiss the

entire uprising as a matter of terrorism. i suspect they will also accused the government of carrying out this one. there's been a lot of debris and people killed or wounded in another element of bloodshed in the ongoing battle. >> thanks very much. ms. moore website. -- there is more on the web site. your favorite. genes may be costing the environment -- your favorite pair of jeans may be costing the environment. >> wearing the right trousers' could actually reduce air pollution. this is coming from an unlikely source, the fashion designer helen story. >> i always felt guilty i was adding to the problem. i could see people got a great joy out of the clothing.

it did not fulfill me entirely. >> michael and janet jackson wor e her clothing in the most expensive music video of all time at -- "scream." and her fishnet stockings that cher wore. >> the ability to put something on your clothing that allows you to purify the air around, what we are doing is taking minerals already found in toothpaste and sunscreen, but we are applying it on to your existing clothing through laundry detergent. >> the result is these jen, ans, which work the same way as a catalytic converter does in an automobile. in basic terms, on a single day, three people wearing jeans could take out the nitrous oxide

pollution of one car. critical mass is needed. air will only improve noticeably if only half the population is on board. in order for it to work, everybody has to use it. it cannot be associated with a single brand. if it is a single brand, there are not enough people. we all have to be catalyzed to clean up the environment. >> there are no patents. those behind the project are getting on their soapbox. they're holding a public meeting to discuss their ideas. the concept is already causing customers' heads to spin. >> it's amazing how you can wash your clothes and then. clean then. it's amazing. >> much more coming up in a couple minutes for the latest on hurricane sandy approaching the

east coast of the united states. and there's more at the web site. thanks for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major

corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles. presented by kcet los angeles.